Sunday, May 26, 2013

Harmph

Made some 300 Blackout brass from 5.56 and .223 cases. Short version, 7 out of thirty chambered and fired. All of those were LC 10 brass. S&B, other LC brass end up too large. With the same settings of the die.

My theory: when the expander pulls back up through the neck, it pulls the shoulder up with it. Still fits in my L.E. Wilson case gauge just fine. But will not chamber and fire. Functional cases actually sit down in the case gauge, even after firing. Some of the brass has thicker walls than others. For cases formed without the expander die in it, the shoulder is in the proper place.

Some of my reading indicates that 300 Whisper and 300 Blackout differ in the expected parent case. Whisper is from 221 Fireball cases necked up, while Blackout is from 5.56 cases cut down. Guess what kind of die set I have? Hornady 300 Blackout/300 Whisper. I don't know if that makes a difference. Something tells me it just might. Or I am just a moron. That possibility always exists.

I've thought about trying the cream of wheat fire forming method. Not real sure about doing it in a semi auto.

Added: Went on a case killing spree. Decimated (every tenth case got beheaded its neck cut) my prepped (and or once fired) .223 cases. Fiocchi held the proper dimension. So did FC marked Federal. PSD and PMC marked PMC cases also hold their dimensions. Seated only bullets in the cases that had the longest shoulders, all fed into the rifle. Hopefully these will fire okay at the range.